Posters and Polaroids

Sadness

-Michael's POV-

I stared out the window, absentmindedly fiddling with my fingers. I was consumed by memories.. of my little sister. She died when I was 11, from an illness. The last thing she insisted on doing, was a family road trip. I don't think any of us knew how frail she'd gotten, because I knew my parents never would have agreed if they knew how it would end: with my baby sister's cold body curled up against me.

Now being in a tiny car like this, smushed between the door and Luke, was very difficult. It reminded me too much of that awful day..

-Flashback-

"Michael! Lily! Time to wake up!" My mum's cheery voice invaded my dreams, pulling me towards consciousness. As I slowly woke up, I realized something was wrong. There was something cold pressing into my side. I was too sleepy, couldn't make sense of it. I struggled to open my eyes.

When I did, I wished I hadn't. The cold something pressed against my side.. was my sister. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I tried again. Finally a strangled sort of noise erupted from my throat. "Mum! Dad!" I screamed. They came running, dropping the cereal bars and yogurt they'd gotten out for breakfast. "Honey! What's wrong?" I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I felt frozen, terrified. Surely this was all a dream. Lily couldn't just be.. Dead.

Could she?

My parents finally succeeded in opening the car door, and my mother smoothed my hair out of my face. "Did you have a nightmare?" She asked softly, then turned to my dad. "Wake Lily up, it's time for breakfast anyways." Finally my voice started working. "You can't." I told them quietly. "Can't what?" My dad asked gently, pausing. "You can't wake her up." I whispered, tears beginning to slip down my cheeks.

"What do you mean, Mikey?" My dad asked, frowning. "She's- she's-" I couldn't finish. It was as if my mouth couldn't form the word 'dead'. I watched, frozen, as my dad reached around me to shake Lily's shoulder. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Powerless to stop it, I couldn't even warn him. As soon as his fingers touched her flesh, I knew he understood what I'd tried to say.

He turned to my mum, fingers still resting on her tiny shoulder, and uttered the words I'd failed to say. "She's dead, Beth." At those three words, my world fell apart.

-End of flashback-

"Michael! We're here!" I shook my head, trying to throw off the clinging haze of dismal memories. "Are you okay?" Calum asked. I nodded, swallowed, then got out of the car, grabbing my towel and sunscreen as I went. Luke unfolded his long legs from where he had been squished in the middle and climbed out of the car behind me, stretching before grabbing his own things.

Ashton clapped me on the shoulder, startling me. He raised his eyebrow at my jump, but nodded when I shook my head. "Ready to go?" He called. I glanced behind me at the sound of running feet, and jumped out of the way when Calum and Luke barreled past. "Race ya!" Luke yelled. Ashton shrugged. "You coming?" He asked. Might as well. "Yeah." I told him, then broke into a sprint.

-Fern's POV-

As a way of thank you for the waffles, and because it was soothing for me too, I offered to style Tillie's hair. However, I ended up just playing with it as we exchanged stories. Funny ones, mostly, but by the end we were crying. Oddly, as I sat hugging Tillie from behind, I realized something.

Humans are fundamentally sad.

"Hey Tillie.." I said softly. "Hmm?" She hummed, still playing with my fingers. "Have you ever thought about how we always end up crying?" She paused as she thought, then nodded. "You're right. I wonder why?" I propped my chin on her shoulder and sighed (somewhat shakily, from having cried). "I think, that once you peel away all the layers," "Parfaits." Tillie interrupted, smiling faintly. I laughed a little. "Yeah. Once you peel it all away, humans are fundamentally sad beings. We all hold sadness in our hearts." I thought for a moment.

"Even though we hold love in our hearts, it doesn't chase away the sadness." We sat in silence, lost in thought, for what seemed like hours and yet like only seconds. Tillie spoke, bringing me out of the vast caverns of my mind for a moment. "There's no time in our brains. We created it to try to control, measure, our lives." I nodded against her shoulder. "Man, we have weird revelations." I thought aloud. Tillie nodded and laughed a bit. "Definitely."